Barnsbury is a place in the London Borough of Islington. The name is a corruption of Bernersbury, being so called after the Berners family, who gained ownership of the lands after the Norman Conquest.

By the end of the 18th century, Barnsbury, like other parts of Islington, was being regarded as attractive part-rural suburbs by the comparatively wealthy people wanting to move out of the cramped City of London and industrial Clerkenwell.

The area is close to the City, and had strong local trade in its position as the first staging post for travellers making the journey from London to the north, and with considerable agricultural traffic and cattle driving to the nearby Smithfield cattle market in the City.